Decide what you want more of and less of in your one wild and precious life; 2025 need not be the “same as it ever was” …
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Everything can change on a dime. A truism both heartening and terrifying.
“And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack/ And you may find yourself in another part of the world/And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile/And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife/And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
Released in 1981 on Talking Heads Remain in Light album, “Once in a Lifetime” poses more questions than it answers. In 2025, we may find ourselves in the right or wrong place at the wrong or right time when lightning suddenly strikes, making or breaking us. A stroke of luck or a slap upside the head? A wake-up call or a date with destiny? That all depends.
There’s a magical Yiddish word we’d hear over Shabbos dinners at our Eastern European Jewish (Ashkenazim) grandparents’ house, spoken with such reverence we kids assumed it was a kind of prayer: bashert, meaning destiny, something meant to be, often referring to meeting one’s soulmate. Had our Iraqi father, a Sephardic Jew, spoken Arabic around us instead of obsessively working to perfect his accented English by studying 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, he might have translated the word as qismat or kismet, the concept of fate or fated, from the Arabic word qisma. An example of “fated” in a sentence: “Our warring parents were fated to nearly destroy each other and anyone within the blast radius of their doomed marriage.” Not bashert, then.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and it’s not the same man.” Heraclitus
We’re decades older than our parents were when they divorced at 44, leaving us in bits, relying on Super Glue to seal the wounds until we figured out how to kintsugi the cracks, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, filling the seams with gold. Scarred and healing, we like to think we’ve learned a thing or two in the meantime, about impermanence and the practice of embracing change, bending not breaking in a storm, becoming more resilient, even as everything appears to be falling apart. If we manage to tear ourselves away from our stupid smartphones, we might turn to board games for amusement and distraction. How about we make a cup of tea and gather round the table to play a game of More or Less? “Are sharks more or less old than trees? Are there more or less than 500,000 meatballs consumed in IKEA stores daily?” Simply answer “More” or “Less”. There’s a range of More or Less box sets to choose from, from the original edition to Science & Nature, History, Geography and, for when you’re feeling bold, a couple’s night version; go on, google it.
Not that we need to throw a dinner party to give this game a go; you can play More or Less on your ownio. Follow our lead … what do you want more or less of in 2025? How about more fun, less funk? More road trips, less road rage. More wonder, less wifi. More music, less news. More movies, less booze. More civics, less politics. More touching, less touchiness. More laugh lines, less filler. More laughter, less slaughter. Now that we’ve got the hang of it (more or less), let’s make it a habit. @susanzelouf
1. I’M PIGGYBANKING coin, saving for Isabel Marant’s embellished Varana belt. www.mytheresa.com.
2. I’M SUITING up in www.bottegaveneta.com retro Resort 2025.
3. I’M BAGGING slap in a boxy Balmain B-army leather-trimmed canvas and calfskin vanity case. www.ssense.com.
4. I’M BROOCHING the subject of mortality via jeweller @studiolafford’s platinum and diamond bit o’ bling.
5. I’M SPOTTING the difference in a Dolce & Gabbana silk scarf. www.modesens.com.
6. I’M LETTING the days go by, streaming Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads film Stop Making Sense (1984).
7. I’M PURRING in Saint Laurent SL466 cat-eye shades from www.clothbase.com.
8. I’M PUCKERING up in Prada Monochrome Hyper Matte in Fuoco. www.prada-beauty.com
9. I’M DIVINING the future with the guidance of I Ching.
10. I’M SMARTENING up in my local library. Borrow books! Read!
11. I’M EYEING up the talent in Victoria Beckham Beauty Lid Lustre in Tea Rose, at Brown Thomas.
12. I’M SWANKING around in www.viviennewestwood.com Saloon printed maxi dress and elevated ghillies.
13. I’M WALKING the wild side in Alaïa Ziggy Vienne openwork ankle boots. www.cettire.com.
14. I’M NAILING the 2025 chocolate trend in Dionne nail enamel by www.zoya.artofbeauty.com.
15. I’M CHANGING it up to Bowie on vinyl, never out of style.
16. I’M GIVING attitude in gold Givenchy 4Gem metal mask sunglasses. www.saksfifthavenue.com.
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